PHILADELPHIA – In the final minute of a one-possession game Sunday, Lavoy Allen had the ball in his hands. He sized up a shot, then … passed it to Jason Richardson.

Granted, Richardson knocked down the open look, but 76ers coach Doug Collins wants Allen, the second-year center, to take shots like that rather than defer. Actually, he’s encouraging each of his post players to get more involved in the Sixers’ offensive plans.

And he’s asking the Sixers’ distributors to make that happen.

“Even if they’re not shooting the ball, that they’re involved – punching in,” Collins said of his bigs Sunday, following the Sixers’ 104-101 win over Phoenix. “Our guys are not ones you’re going to throw the ball to in the post and they’re going to make a lot of post moves. Our guys are better at catching it, punching it and taking a quick shot. We don’t have that kind of big guy.”

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The Sixers, who had an off day Monday and host Dallas tonight, are looking into the paint for production.

Collins’ crew got 21 percent of its offense Sunday from traditional post players – like Allen, Thad Young, Kwame Brown and rookie Arnett Moultrie. Those four combined for 22 of the Sixers’ 81 shot attempts. Those numbers don’t exactly lure opposing teams into the post and leave open shots on the wings for the Sixers’ perimeter guys, like Collins would have hoped.

So Collins is instructing his guards to give the Sixers’ bigs touches down low. Even if his forwards and centers don’t take the shots they’re given, throwing the ball inside and involving the bigs in the Sixers’ offensive schemes will create better scoring opportunities all around.

“When the big guys are receiving the ball in the paint and getting touches in the paint,” Young said, “it makes them want to run the court, it makes them want to get stops, makes them want to get rebounds. It’s a give-and-take situation.

“Definitely makes me want to work harder.”

It made sense for the Sixers to set up shop beyond the arc Sunday, with the Suns entering that game with the NBA’s worst defense against 3-pointers. In addition, the Sixers are shooting 38 percent from long range, good for eighth-best in the league.

So the notion of tossing the ball inside was ignored. Moving forward, though, the Sixers must incorporate an interior attack if they’re to contend nightly.

“We’ve got to establish our presence,” Young said. “The physicality part of the game, (other teams) are getting into us early and we have to go out there and put our foot down and take a stand.”

There’s an outlier in every equation, however, and that’s Allen. The 6-9 kid out of Temple took 10 shots Sunday, six of which were outside the paint. Collins said he’s comfortable with Allen shooting from 15 feet, which is where Allen got cozy in the postseason a year ago.

And Allen said he’s confident in his shot, too – even if he didn’t take it Sunday.

“That last shot, I wanted to take a little time off the clock, so I didn’t want to shoot the ball,” he said. “But if I’m open, (Collins) tells me to take the shot.”

“See what happened was I heard Chris Brown and Rihanna were getting back together, so that really helped my confidence and helped me play with more joy. If I’m open, I’m going to take the shot.”